Dental Bulletins

DENTAL BULLETIN, ISSUE 12
In October 2012 a positive duty was placed on all employers to automatically enrol ‘eligible job holders’ in to a qualifying pension scheme. For most Dental Practices the relevant date for complying is likely to be early next year. If your Practice has not been given the relevant date yet, then you should expect notification imminently. A failure to...

DENTAL BULLETIN, ISSUE 9
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) began operating on the 1stApril 2009 and was created to regulate and inspect health and social care services. Since its inception a number of additional services have come under its umbrella, including Primary Dental Care Services as of 1st April 2011.
In recent months the CQC has come under fire from the Medical...

DENTAL BULLETIN, ISSUE 7
From 1st October 2015 the following legal changes will come into force:
– The National Minimum Wage: this will increase from £6.50 to £6.70 for those over 21 years of age; for employees who are aged 18 to 21 the rate will increase from £5.13 to £5.50; Employees under 18 will see an increase in their hourly rate from £3.79 to £3.87; and finally the...

DENTAL BULLETIN, ISSUE 5
Every dentist knows how important it is to obtain consent from a patient before conducting any physical examination or undertaking treatment on a patient. In this article we look at the legal issues surrounding consent, namely the definition and consequences of not obtaining it.
Valid Consent
There is no statute setting out the definition of consent;...

DENTAL BULLETIN, ISSUE 2
I recently wrote about the Professional Conduct Committee’s assessment of the GDC’s conduct during the Fitness to Practice investigation of Dr Singh. Because of the appalling conduct of the GDC in that case, the hearing was abandoned, however it will subsequently be re-listed for a full hearing. The purpose of the legal application made was to stop the unfair...

DENTAL BULLETIN, ISSUE 1
In recent times there has been criticism by dentists of the GDC’s approach in Fitness to Practice proceedings, in particular the culture of “naming and shaming” those who are unfortunate enough to come to their attention. So it may not surprise many dentists to hear that the Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) have made some damning criticisms of those...